M is for Mommy

Some children in Rio created a toy favela (slum) in a vacant lot in their neighborhood. Here is a very interesting article with photos. Apparently, the main benefit to the kids (now older teens) is the opportunity to learn video shooting and production skills from the documentary folks who have come to cover their art. They have begun producing animated videos for Brazil's Nickelodeon channel. Here is a sample of one of their episodes which, at less than 1 minute, is presumably MUCH shorter than the Nickelodeon show.

Or, When a "Foody" Fasts I've been on a fast lately. Jeff went to the states on November 2 for 2 weeks and I couldn't help noticing that that was exactly 40 days from when I leave for the states on December 12. Combine that with my recent interest in fasting and a great little book I read on the subject and I'm off on a 40-day adventure. Today was day 20. I actually started a few days before Jeff left. This was really good because I really needed the moral support those first few days. The plan was the following: 3 days water only. 2 days juice/water. 2 weeks of water, vegetables, whole rice, melba toast. Then I added tea, bread, and some oils (like in peanut butter). The water and veggies only deal is what some call a "Daniel fast," based on Daniel's fasts in the Biblical book of the same name. He and his friends, afraid of eating non-Kosher food in Babylon, restricted their diet to vegetables and water. Later in the book, he went on a three-week fa...

This from our fellow IMB missionaries here in town: Dear prayer warriors, Because of an unfortunate auto accident here in Brazil on Friday, we need to ask for your urgent prayers for a complicated situation. Whether this should be viewed as an attack by the evil one or just unfortunate circumstances of life, we know that God can work on behalf of our and your prayers to resolve this. After having spent three days driving to arrive in Campinas, São Paulo, during which Mark had two very encouraging meetings with Brazilian leaders who are excited about being a part of Project Sedi, Mark was in the process of preparing the studio for doing the beginning taping of the project. He realized that he was dangerously tired, so he asked the pastor who was working with him if he would be willing to drive the car. An unlicensed and undocumented motorcylist ran into the side of the car, and was taken to the hospital with a scraped leg. In Brazil, because the motorcyclist was injured, he becomes...

Shortly after his release from prison and the release of his autobiography, I had the chance to sit down with Jim Bakker at a convention in Los Angeles. I was working for a radio station at the time and convinced the news crew to let me do the interview. I wanted to give Bakker the opportunity to tell his side of the story. I told him how I’d seen his ministry change, from a simple, sincere morning interview program to a media extravaganza complete with Christian shopping malls and time-share condominiums. I opened with the obvious question: “WHAT HAPPENED?!!” He told me that the ministry outgrew his capacity to keep up with it. That, by the end, they were having to raise 1 million dollars a week* just to keep it going. The pressure was tremendous. The focus shifted from the people being reached to the money needed to reach them. I’ve seen ministers rationalize that type of thinking. “We stress X% growth and we count numbers because each number is a soul.” My husband, Jeff , has been w...

Jeff is in the states for two weeks taking a doctoral seminar. I'm here in Porto Alegre with the kids. We've had a really good time so far--and we've past the half way point. Jeff returns on Wednesday. While Jeff has been out, I've been spending lots of time with George . I don't know how many of you have a George Foreman grill, but they can be extremely useful. Especially when you're alone with small children and don't want to cook. George makes grilled ham and cheese sandwiches, hot dogs, hamburgers, toast, steaks. The only drawback is he's a bear to clean. Newer Georges have removable plates that go in the dishwasher -- so don't let this turn you off if you don't own one already. Jeff hates mushroooms, so I've taking the opportunity to eat Portobello mushrooms for supper almost every night. Simple recipe, just spray the mushroom (both sides) with Pam (or brush on oil) and then sprinkle with salt and pepper. Grill. They're great on thi...